Welding apparatus



Feb. 6, 1934. I. F. WELLER WELDING APPARATUS Filed May 1, 1931 Inventor: lT-vifig F Weller".

I (Alf/a4. Hi5 Attorrwey UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE vWELDING APPARATUS Irving F. Weller, Schenectady, N. Y.. assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application May 1, 1931. Serial No. 534,302

'7 Claims. (Cl. 219-8) My invention relates to welding, and more partrodes 10 and 11. Gas is supplied to pipe 14 from ticularly to gas-arc welding. a suitable source of supply through a pipe and In gas-arc welding, the welding operation is cap 15. The deflector plug 18 has a conical surconducted through the agency of'an electric arc face 21 which coacts with the inwardly beveled 5 and a gas or mixture of gases. One form of gasend of pipe 13 to form an outwardly flared annuarc welding for which my invention is particular outlet through which gas is discharged from larly suited is atomic hydrogen welding. In this pipe 13 by way of passages 22. Plug 18 and cap form of welding hydrogen is dissociated by an 15 are adjustable along the length of pipe 13 are and carried in its dissociated state to the work and, by adjusting these members, the size of the 10 where upon recombination it liberates an enordischarge outlet formed between the deflecting mous amount of heat which is utilized in persurface 21 of plug 18 and the beveled discharge forming the welding operation. One way of acend of pipe 13 may be varied to control the size complishing this result is to direct a jet of hyof the flame produced by gas discharged through drogen across an are into contact with the work. this outlet. In the arrangement illustrated in 15 Part of the gas of the jet is dissociated in the the drawing the adjustment of plug 18 and cap 15 are and carried to the work where it recombines. in pipe 13 is obtained by threading these members It has been found desirable to protect arcinto the ends of the pipe. It is of course apparing terminals of the welding torch and the work ent that other arrangements may be employed being welded during the welding operation by a by which this adjustment may be accomplished. zo surrounding envelope of hydrogen which in the Gas is supplied to the tube 13 through a pipe 23. presence of air ignites and burns forming a The hood 12 is a double walled hood through flame about the electrodes and the work being which a cooling fluid such as water is circulated. welded. The cooling fluid is supplied to the hood through It is an object of my invention to provide a a pipe 24 located about pipe 13'. The space be- 25 gas-arc torch of improved construction which is tween pipes 13 and 24 is divided longitudinally provided with a nozzle for producing a bulbous into two channels 25 and 26 by fins 27 attached flame which completely encloses and protects to pipe 13 and extending to the inside walls of the arcing terminals of the Welding electrodes as pipe 24. The cooling fluid is supplied to pipe well as the work being Welded. 24 through a pipe 28 connected to passageway 25 30 My invention will be better understood from and is conducted through this passageway to 5 the following description taken in connection hood 12 through which it circulates and from with the accompanying drawing, and itsscope will which it is discharged through passageway 26 be pointed out in the appended claims. and pipe 29 connected thereto.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a side view partly in The electrodes 10 and 11 extend through section of a welding torch embodying my inthimbles 3O connecting the inner and outer walls vention; Fig. 2 is a section of Fig. 1 taken along oi the double walled hood 12. The electrodes the lines 2-2, and Fig. 3 is a modified form of are electrically insulated from the hood and the the torch shown in Fig. 1. thimble by means of bushings 31 and 32 formed The torch shown in Fig. 1 comprises a pluof an insulating material. Bushing 32 is 40 rality of electrodes 10 and 11 supported in a hood threaded to engage a thread in the thimble 30 12 through the central portion of which extends and a packing 33 of some material such as asbesa compound nozzle by means of which a blast tos is held in place between the bushings and of gas is directed across the arcing terminals of about the electrodes by screwing bushing 32 into the electrodes and a bulbous shielding flame thimble 30. This packing is provided to prevent 45 produced about them and the work being welded. air flowing along the electrodes through the This nozzle comprises a pipe 13 in which is 10- bushings supporting these electrodes. It also cated a second pipe 14. Pipe 14 is supported in serves to clamp the electrodes in adjusted posipipe 13 by a cap 15 which closes one end of tions in hood 12. pipe 13 and furnishes a seat 16 for one end of In the drawing the shape of the flame produced 50 pipe 14, and by a deflector plug 18 which is 10- by the nozzle has been illustrated by dotted lines. cated in the discharge end of a pipe 13 and fur- It will be noted that the flame is of a bulbous nishes a seat 1'7 for the other end of pipe 14. The shape although the gas leaves the annular outplug 18 has anopening 19 registering with the let between the conical surface 21 of the deflector opening in pipe 14 through which a jet of gas plug 18 and the discharge end of the tube 13 as if 55 is supplied across the arcing terminals of elecit Would generate a conical flame. The length of the flame will depend upon the velocity of the gas supplied through the nozzle and particularly through the opening 19 in plug 18. By increasing the velocity of the jet of gas supplied through opening 19 the flame will be lengthened and by decreasing its velocity the flame will be shortened. It is also to be noted that the bushlngs 31 protect the electrodes at the points where the flame cuts across them. If some protection were not thus furnished, the electrodes would be consumed or eroded at these places. One of the important features of applicants nozzle is that it produces a flame which completely envelops those portions of the electrodes extending beyond the holders and protects them as well as the work immediately below the arcing terminals of the electrodes from the influence of the air in which the welding operation is normally conducted.

In Fig. 3 a modified form of the torch shown in Fig. 1 has been illustrated. In this figure the hood illustrated at 34 has inturned edges which together with the bulbous flame produced by the discharge oil gas through outlet 35 protect the portions of the electrodes 36 and 37 extending through the bushings 38 and 39 which do not as in Fig. I extend along the electrodes a sumclent distance to protect the electrodes in the absence of the particular hood illustrated. The construction shown in Fig. 3 also differs from that shown in Fig. 1 in that the electrode bush ings are differently constructed. In Fig. 3 the bushings in each thimble are of like configuration and are held in place in the hood by thimbles having nuts 40 threaded on the portion of the thimbles 41 extending above the hood 34. Except for the features above noted, the torch shown in Fig. 3 is like that shown in Fig. 1, like parts being identified by the same reference numerals of Figs. 1 and 2 primed.

I have illustrated and described my invention as applied to a torch having the general construction of the torch shown and described in the case of James T. Catlett, Serial No. 534,362 for Welding apparatus, filed concurrently herewith, and assigned to the same assignee as the present case. The novel features of the torch, except as covered in the present case, have been claimed in that case.

While I have shown and described particular embodiments of my invention, numerous modiflcations thereof will readily present themselves to those skilled in the art, and I therefore aim to cover by the following claims all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. Welding apparatus comprising means for holding an electrode, and means for producing a bulbous flame about the arcing terminal of said electrode.

2. Welding apparatus comprising means for holding a plurality of electrodes in convergent positions relative to one another, and means for producing a bulbous flame about the arcing terminals of said electrode.

3. Welding apparatus comprising means for holding a plurality of electrodes in convergent positions relative to one another, means for producing a bulbous flame about the arcing torminals of said electrodes, and means for directing a concentrated blast of hydrogen across the arcing terminals of said electrode.

4. Welding apparatus comprising means for holding an electrode, means for producing a bulbous flame about the arcing terminal of said elec trode, and means for protecting said electrode against the action of said flame where it cuts across said electrode.

5. Gas arc welding apparatus comprising a nozzle having an outwardly flared annular outlet, and means for supporting a plurality of electrodes with their arcing terminals surrounded by the gas supplied through said outlet.

6. Gas arc welding apparatus comprising a nozzle having an outwardly flared annular outlet, means for supporting a plurality of electrodes with their arcing terminals surrounded by gas supplied through said outlet, and means for directing a jet of gas across the arcing terminals of said electrodes.

7. Gas arc welding apparatus comprising a pipe having a flared outlet, a conical deflector in said flared outlet, means for adjusting the spacing of said deflector relative to said flared outlet, and means for supporting a plurality of electrodes with their arcing terminals surrounded by the gas supplied through said pipe and the opening between said flared outlet and said conical deflector.

IRVING F. WELLER. 

